Aggies win second straight, 9-4

Wire Service

02/17/2002

The Texas A&M pitching staff limited the Arizona offense to just a single hit in a 9-4 victory over the Wildcats Saturday afternoon.

Chris Cunningham's two-RBI double in the eighth inning stood as Arizona's only base knock against three different Aggie pitchers. The loss is the second straight to Texas A&M and drops UA's record to 11-3 overall for the season.

A&M ace Khalid Ballouli struck out seven Wildcat hitters over six innings before giving way to Todd Deininger in the seventh. The Aggie reliever worked 1.2 hitless innings, but was charged with all four Wildcat runs as Jeff Van Houten's eighth inning hot shot to third found it's way past A&M's Erik Schindewolf for a two-run error.

After Ken Riley was hit by a pitch to place runners on first and second, the A&M coaching staff went to the bullpen again, calling on Brian Finch to come in and preserve the no-no. Cunningham ended the no-hit hopes of the 7,428 fans in attendance in the next at bat with an opposite field double the plated Van Houten and Riley.

The Wildcat defense committed four errors in the game helping to send Joe Little to his first career loss as a Wildcat. The left-hander worked 3.1 innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits.